Building covering



y 1934. E. R. BLACK BUILDING COVERING Filed Nov. 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheetl 6 dj zdeid irwar May 22, 1934. E, R, BLACK 1,959,519

BUILDING COVERING Filed Nov. 21, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v a z;

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Patented May 22, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BUILDING COVERING Edward Roscoe Black, Chicago, Ill., assigner to BlackSystems, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois My inventionrelates to building coverings, and is particularly concerned withroofing and siding such as individual and strip shingles or roll roofingand individual unit, strip or roll siding composed of the usual types offlexible prepared roofing materials.

One of the objects of my invention is the provision of a new andimproved method of fastening to a building covering units havingturnedunder flaps.

Another object is to provide a new and improved building covering unitwhereby expansion and contraction, in response to changes intemperature, may take place without danger of the exposed surface beingbuckled to the injury of the effectiveness or appearance of the coveringor to the anchorage thereof to the building framework.

A further object is to provide an arrangement whereby units, havingunderturned portions or anchor strips, may be individually anchoredsecurely in place at the butt or exposed region without bending ordistorting the unit to effect its anchorage.

Another object is the provision of a building covering unit having aturned-under flap and suitable fastening means for securing the same toa building in a new and improved manner.

A further object is to provide securing means in the form of holdingstrips which may be removably placed between the turned-under flap andthe body of a covering unit.

Another object is the provision of improved means for joining theabutting edges of building covering units without overlapping.

Other objects and advantages will be more apparent from the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a strip or siding;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a portion of a building with oneform of my improved covering in place;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of a single shingle unit inaccordance with my invention;

Fig. 4 is a side view thereof; I

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical sectional view illustrating more indetail the butt anchorage of the unit;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation of a modified form of holding strip;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section thereof taken on the line 7--'7 of Fig.6;

Fig. 8 is a medial sectional view of an improved tool for nailing thecovering units in place;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary perspective View of a covering unit having slitsuniformly spaced for using a modified type of nail in securing thecovering unit in place; and I Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 5showing a modification wherein the holding strip is elimi- 60, nated.

My invention will first be illustrated and explained as embodied instrip siding, and in Fig.

1 a strip unit 10 of siding is shown, which may be provided inconvenient lengths for applica 65. tion to a building. The unit has anundere turned portion or, anchor strip 12 parallel to the body portionand spaced therefrom by a flange portion 14. The body, anchor strip andinterconnecting flange are formed from a single piece 70, of materialpreferably bent at the factory while still hot to obviate cracking andinsure smooth and accurate corners. Thus the blank from which the unitis formed may be bent substantially at right angles, preferably Whilestill hot, along two '?5; lines parallel to the butt edge of the unit.These bends determine the flange and underlying anchor strip and,because the material having .once been sharply bent is relatively moreflexible at the bend, they form, in efiect, a hinge between 30, the bodyof the unit and the butt flange thereof and a hinge between the buttflange and the underlying anchor strip. This hinge efiect, how-- ever isnot utilized in placing and anchoring a unit in place on the buildingframework but to afford lines of relatively easy movement in order toaccommodate expansion and contraction,

as will be hereinafter described.

A holding strip 16 may be placed in the space between the body of thesiding and the anchor strip 12. The strip siding may be formed of asuitable composition material covered with granules of stone, slate orsimilar objects as is customarily done in manufacturing coveringmaterial of this type.

In the specific embodiment shown the body of the strip may be coveredwith a comparatively light colored stone and the upper edge 18 may becovered with darker stone. At predetermined distances vertical spaces.20 are also covered with darkened stone and a portion 22 at each end ofthe covering is covered with similar darkened stone. It will be notedthat the width of the portions 22 is approximately half that of thewidth of the edge portions 20 for a reason further to be explained. v

The method of applying the strips 10 to the side of the building willnow be described in connection with Fig. 2, in which a building 24 isshown having thefoundation 26 and a side wall 28 which it is desired tocover. Strips 10 are placed against the side of the building, the lowerstrip 10a being first positioned, and nails 30 are driven into thesiding of the building through the body 10 and underlying anchor strip12 of the shingle until the head of the nail having passed completelythrough the body exerts a holding pressure upon the anchor strip byresting or pressing against the holding strip 16. The nails employedwill preferably have relatively small heads in order to facilitate thedriving thereof through the body of the unit.

A suitable tool for driving these nails into position is shown in Fig. 8and may comprise a body portion 32 having an upwardly extending annularportion 34. The body 32 is provided with a longitudinal bore 36 whichextends axially through the body 32. A counterbore 38, considerablylarger, also extends longitudinally of the body portion 32, forming ashoulder 40 at its bottom edge. A cap portion 42, having a suitablytapped opening, is arranged to be screw-threadedly mounted upon theportion 34. A driving rod 44 having a head portion 46 and awork-engaging stem 48 is arranged to be positioned in the bores 36 and38. The tool 44 has an enlarged shoulder 47 which extends into asuitable opening 50 formed as an enlargement of the bore 38. A

return spring 52 is positioned below the flange 47 to normally hold thedriving tool in an upper position. The work-engaging stem 48 has atapered end portion 49 for engaging the nail head, that is relativelysmall so that at no time'will the driving tool engage the sides of thehole made by the nail head.

In using this tool in nailing siding or roofing to a building, a nail 30may be driven into the building a portion of its distance and the toolplaced over the nail. A blow struck upon the head portion 46 of thedriving rod 44 will force the nail downward through the upper portion ofthe siding l0 and down against the holding strip 16. In this manner itwill be seen that the heads of the securing means will be concealed fromview.

Referring to Fig. 2, an attractive appearance of the wall is provided bythe darkened portions 20 which, as may readily be seen, give the wallthe appearance of rows of concrete blocks from a suitable distance. Itwill be seen that the abutting edges, as at 10b, will be in effectsimilar to the portions 20 due to the fact that the portions 22 at eachend of the siding strip are approximately one-half as wide as theportions 20.

Means for securing together the abutting edges of strips of siding areprovided and may comprise the rectangular holding strip 56 which isplaced between the anchor strip and the body portion of a pair ofabutting siding strips. A nail 30 driven through each siding unit andthe anchor strip until its head engages the holding strip will thuseffectively secure the abutting siding units together, as well aseffectively fasten them to the building.

allows suflicient play between the fastening means and the upper end ofthe siding to permit a slight 'relative movement.

' Holding strip 16'may be a metallic strip if desired or it may be astrip of composition material or cardboard or any other desirablematerial.

However, this holding strip is necessarily used only on buildingcovering materials of insuflicient body to prevent nails from tearingthrough, and it is to be strictly understood that with the ordinaryroofing or covering material generally used the holding strip 16 may beomitted and the roofing fastened in the same manner without detractingfrom the effectiveness of the fastening or the appearance of thecovering units. It will also be understood that flange 14 in manyinstances may be entirely omitted where the covering units are notsusceptible to much shrinkage or expansion and in this case the unitsare applied in the same manner as previously described, that is, bydriving a nail through the body portion of the covering unit to a finalposition with the head of the nail bearing against the anchor stripportion of the covering unit.

In Figs. 6 and '7 a holding strip 16 has been illustrated which may beformed of a relatively thin sheet metal. As the fastening nails aredriven through the metal forming holes 16a therein, inwardly bentflanges 16b are formed,

looking the strip and the anchor portion of the shingle together. Aplurality of turned-down prongs 17 may be formed before the holdingstrip is applied to the covering unit. One of the advantages of usingthis type of holding strip'lies in the fact that the strip may bepositioned between the upturned flange and the body of the siding orshingle and pressed so that the prongs 17 will cut into the upturnedportion or anchor strip, thus more or less securely fixing the holdingits strip in position during shipment or other movemay be driven.Another means for closing these holes is by pouring therein a smallportion'of tar or cement.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have illustrated my inven portion 'of the unit 10through which the nails tion as applied to single polygonally shapedshingles 66. The shingles are provided with a turned-up or anchorportion 68 and a rectangular metallic holding strip '70. The shingle isalso provided with a connecting flange '72 between the anchor strip andthe body portion of the shingle.

Fig. 10 shows an example of the modification heretofore mentionedwherein the holding strip is omitted, the nail 30' being driven throughthe body of a unit 66' from the front until its head bears directlyagainst anchor strip 68 to exert 7 its holding pressure thereupon.

From the above description it will be apparent that the invention may beapplied to individual shingles, multiple shingles, or roll roofing cutinto suitable lengths.

By the use of the darkened portions 18 at the upper end of the sidingstrips, the adjacent higher courseunit is secured with its turnedunderedge and achor strip slightly above the lower edge of the shadedportion. With the darkened background below the edge thus formed, 1

the effect of this arrangement is to cause the edge of the strip toassume a magnified depth to the casual observer which creates a veryfavorable impression. By theuse of the shaded portions 20 and 22 (asshown), a siding may present the appearance of a concrete blockconstruction. It is obvious, however, that many other forms and designsmay be created by the use of darkly shaded portions suitably spaced.

The invention is capable of wide variation between equivalent limitsand, while I have shown and described only a specific embodiment, itwill be understood that numerous changes and modifications may be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not wish tobe limited to the exact details shown. Rather, what I desire to protectby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A method of laying shingles having a turnedunder edge which consistsin placing the shingle in position and driving a nail through the bodywith the head of the nail bearing against the turned-under edge.

2. A method of fastening shingles which consists in forming a fold orcrease along one edge of a shingle with the convex surface of said foldextending below the shingle and bent back upon said shingle, a holdingstrip placed between said shingle and said edge portion, and fasteningmeans forced through said shingle and. through the holding strip andedge portion, the head of said fastening means bearing against saidholding strip.

3. A method of laying shingles having a turnedunder edge which consistsin placing a holding strip between the edge portion and the body of theshingle, placing the shingle in position and driving a nail through thebody with the head of said nail bearing against the holding strip.

4. A method of anchoring to a building framework the exposed butt of acovering unit composed of flexible composition roofing material andhaving a portion adjacent the butt edge turned under the body thereof toform an anchor strip which consists in driving a nail from the frontface of the body through both the body and anchor strip into thebuilding framework until the head of the nail passes completely throughthe body and exerts pressure upon the anchor strip therebelow.

EDWARD ROSCOE BLACK.

